"It is imperative that the Democratic leadership, both nationally and in the states, understand that the political world is changing and that millions of Americans are outraged at establishment politics and establishment economics. The people of this country want a government which represents all of us, not just the 1 percent, super PACs and wealthy campaign contributors.

"The Democratic Party has a choice. It can open its doors and welcome into the party people who are prepared to fight for real economic and social change – people who are willing to take on Wall Street, corporate greed and a fossil fuel industry which is destroying this planet. Or the party can choose to maintain its status quo structure, remain dependent on big-money campaign contributions and be a party with limited participation and limited energy.

Read the paragraph above again. It's a throwdown, similar to the throwdown here. So far, nothing has changed. If you don't think this is still a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party, think again. Back to Sanders:

"Within the last few days there have been a number of criticisms made against my campaign organization. Party leaders in Nevada, for example, claim that the Sanders campaign has a ‘penchant for violence.’ That is nonsense. Our campaign has held giant rallies all across this country, including in high-crime areas, and there have been zero reports of violence. Our campaign of course believes in non-violent change and it goes without saying that I condemn any and all forms of violence, including the personal harassment of individuals. But, when we speak of violence, I should add here that months ago, during the Nevada campaign, shots were fired into my campaign office in Nevada and apartment housing complex my campaign staff lived in was broken into and ransacked.

"If the Democratic Party is to be successful in November, it is imperative that all state parties treat our campaign supporters with fairness and the respect that they have earned. I am happy to say that has been the case at state conventions in Maine, Alaska, Colorado and Hawaii where good discussions were held and democratic decisions were reached. Unfortunately, that was not the case at the Nevada convention. At that convention the Democratic leadership used its power to prevent a fair and transparent process from taking place.

And now the list of what went wrong. If you think this is blogger-talk, consider the source. This is Sanders talking; not a man who doesn't do research first.

"Among other things:

The chair of the convention announced that the convention rules passed on voice vote, when the vote was a clear no-vote. At the very least, the Chair should have allowed for a headcount.

The chair allowed its Credentials Committee to en mass rule that 64 delegates were ineligible without offering an opportunity for 58 of them to be heard. That decision enabled the Clinton campaign to end up with a 30-vote majority.

The chair refused to acknowledge any motions made from the floor or allow votes on them.

The chair refused to accept any petitions for amendments to the rules that were properly submitted.

"These are on top of failures at the precinct and county conventions including trying to depose and then threaten with arrest the Clark County convention credentials chair because she was operating too fairly."

I think we can put this to bed. The Clinton media will spin this as Bernie-violence, and the DNC is all over both the story and this statement as shameful, "anything but acceptable" in Debbie Wasserman Schultz's words. But that's absurd. Sanders does not encourage violence, and none of his massive rallies are violent either. This is just another stick the DNC is using to beat him with.

What You Do Next Matters

My suggestion to you: Take the reaction as a reminder of who and how many are against you. And don't disengage. We have numbers, momentum, and frankly, history on our side. The broader contest, not just for the nomination, but for the Party itself, is theirs to lose, and they're doing everything in their power to guarantee that loss.

Their overreaction is a tell, in fact, of the fact that they now feel powerless. They can get the nomination (maybe), and maybe even the election (though more doubtful), but that's all they will get. If Clinton is indeed made president, I predict "Fortress White House" within a year; she'll be the most embattled president since Richard Nixon.

People have asked nicely, electorally, through the political process. The other side (that's the DNC and all they represent) has declared war instead. You're watching the birth of that war in this campaign. We're nowhere near the end of it.

I'll have more on that broader story later. For now, just stay focused and engaged. This won't end at the nomination fight, and they're on their heels.

5 Comments:

It's quite evident, following the Nevada convention, that Hillary and the DNC are going to marginalize and abandon the Sanders wing of the Democratic party. Both Hillary and the neoliberal/corporatist DNC see room to move to the center/right and they're betting that by pivoting rightward, they can pick up enough embittered GOP moderates to swing the election in November. And, as always, they're plying the tired old trope of, "Fuck the left. What're they gonna do, vote Republican?" It's worked for 40+ years but me thinks things are significantly different this year to the point where their game will succeed only in getting Trump elected. Many feel sickened and disgusted by Hillary's antics and won't vote for her unless she proves that she's worthy as a candidate. Even if she were to make the right moves, nobody believes her.

The DNC and DLC and other Democratic organizations have taken us on the left for granted long enough. It's not just Hilary, there are many people involved in the New Dem/Blue Dog/Third Way wing of the Party and they have told us to "Fuck off" one too many times, while they count on us to finally capitulate and vote for their mediocre candidate. Obama was the last straw. I'm not going to vote for anyone who doesn't work for my vote, or who engages in bullshit to get my vote until they've been elected. Of course Trump would be a disaster, perhaps worse that W. However, voting for a centrist who never really honors my position is pointless.I don't see the Clintons as demons, but I don't think their strategy of triangulating fits the mood of the country anymore. In addition, over they years they have become so entwined with the corporate world that they are unable to adequately represent the voters they allege to care about. Add in such reprehensible characters as Rahm Emmanuel, DWS, Patrick Murphy, Mark Warner, etc., and the Democratic Party has moved away from the reasons I stayed in the party for 40+ years. My father was the president of the local Writer's Guild, a white collar union back in the 60's, when unions still meant something. He worked on Democratic campaigns in the 60's, was active in civil rights, and taught me to be the fighter I am. He also instilled in me that sense of fairness that FDR worked to create in American society and a strong belief in the Four Freedoms. Since the rise of the DLC and the Clintons, the party may have won presidential elections, but it has lost what made it worth belonging to. Unless it is reformed and power is taken from those currently holding it, I'm not interested in being a Democrat. I know there are a multitude who have similar feelings. The current Dem Leadership ignores or backhands us this time at their peril.

I happen to be one of those independent voters whom Mrs. Clinton will need to win in the general election, and with the Nevada Incident, she just lost me and my vote for good. I happen to believe that, if elected, Mme. Clinton will be the first president ever impeached and removed from office, despite the best efforts of the Democratic leadership, you should excuse the expression, to pack the House with compliant, corrupt conservadems.

How naïve we all are and how Sisyphean was Bernie's attempt to make the D sect of the big money a true people's party (again).

In retrospect, I don't fault Bernie as much as unfathomably stupid voters who either/both still think their vote matters and believes, in contrast to several decades of deeds, that the Clintons give a flying rape about any of them.

Bernie felt he needed the entrenched tribalism and maybe the shreds of media coverage and vestiges of organization that the DNC and Clintons discarded due to their hubris. Without all that, he'd need to build everything from scratch and could not get any message out (the media would have ignored him completely had he not ran as a D). I get that. And it was truly a valiant run.

But now that voters have proved, yet again, to be imbeciles; and now that the DNC and big money are slamming shut any door to inclusiveness that may have been still ajar, it's time for Bernie to decide whether he wants to keep leading his movement or to eat shit and abdicate to the money.

John Oliver did a few minutes last night on how both parties have rigged their processes to favor the tribe's chosen ones. Interesting that the Ds sect seems to be the most corrupt... but whatever. It is a longer journey to have utterly corrupted the party of FDR and HST than to have kept the other sect corrupt from the time of harding-coolidge-hoover.

But the method of rigging primaries dates only from '68 when the establishment's guy (HHH) was coronated after not even running in any primary over the anti-war guy (McCarthy) triggering massive protests which was responded to by the Ds' man Daly ordering his Chicago police to brutally and violently suppress them. The police riots were captured on live TV and led to the usurper losing in the general to, of all people, Nixon.

The D sect decided that they could never again allow actual voters to decide on their candidate, so they rigged it so that their insiders could repudiate voters if the need arose again. The charade was not necessary until this time, and it's corruption has been laid bare. Yet voters, ever docile and domesticated, keep playing the game like it was actually democratic. And they keep playing it stupidly.

Bernie, it's now up to you. Eat the democrat party shit taco and pretend to love it... or run as a Green/Independent... or drop it altogether and go back to being 1 of the half dozen among the 535 in congress who are not corrupted pos's. Those are your choices.

My choice will be Bernie, if he runs as a 3rd, or Jill Stein. I'll never vote for a democrat again. I will never ever ever ever vote for a republican.